OH 16

Exhibit Item
Site: Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Year of Discovery:
Discovered by: Louis S. B. Leakey
Age: About 1.7 million years old
Species: Homo habilis
3D Scans

This crushed skull found in 1963 at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, has a lightly-built braincase yet a larger brain size than Australopithecus - two features that led Louis Leakey and colleagues to recognize the species Homo habilis.

side view of Homo habilis, OH 16 skull
(Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution)